There Goes My Life
by itendswithakiss
Summary: Jared gets a phone call that changes his life.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello all! This is my first F&B story, and the first story I've written in a really long time. So bear with me. It's un beta-ed. My friend has read it and she likes it, so...yeah. Anyway, it's very loosely based on Kenny Chesney's song There Goes My Life. **  
**Hope you guys like it! :) **

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"Mr. Franklin?" the voice on the phone kept calling his name but he wasn't paying any attention. "MR. FRANKLIN!"

"I-I'm here." He replied in a shaky voice. "I don't have a daughter, I would know if I had a kid."

"According to her Birth Certificate, you are Julie's father."

"Who's the mother?" He had a feeling he knew who it was, but he needed to confirm his suspicion.

"Claire Young."

Jared was right. He vaguely remembers sleeping with Claire and then running into her a year later at a coffee shop and being introduced to little Julie. That was months ago. It then hit him that something must be wrong with Claire if he was getting a call saying that he needs to pick up the daughter he never knew he had. "Something happened to Claire." It wasn't a question, he knew something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, she was in an accident, she passed away a few hours ago." The nurse on the other end waited a while before she said, "Mr. Franklin, if you don't come pick up Julie we will have to give her to child services."

"You said Claire was in an accident, was Julie with her? Is she ok?" Jared surprised himself by sounding like a concerned parent.

"She's fine, a few bumps and bruises, nothing major. Sir, are you coming down here?" Jared knew he had to do the right thing and the nurse sounded like she wanted nothing more than to get back to her job.

"Yes, what hospital are they at?" If Jared was going to do this, he needed to get down there fast.

"Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian."

"Wait, that's like an hour aw-never mind, I'll be there." Before he hung up, Jared made sure to get as much information about where to go and what to do when he got there. As he hung up Peter walked into the office.

"Hey buddy! Who was on the phone?" Peter had been Jared's best friend since they were 10, they told each other everything. But for some reason, Jared couldn't tell Peter about this, not yet.

"Remember Claire Young?" Jared asked him.

"Yeah, tall with really curly hair, why?"

"She was in an accident and they need someone to identify the body. Wanna come?" Technically Jared told Peter the truth, just left out some details. He knew that Peter would say no because when Peter is around dead bodies he is useless.

"I'm good. I didn't really know her that well. That's all you buddy." Peter said and sat down at his desk to do some paperwork. Jared was out the door when he heard Peter shout, "HAVE FUN!"

Fun, right, that's the word to describe what just happened. Jared just became a single father. He doesn't know the first thing about kids. Hell, he still acts like a kid, how is he supposed to raise one? "Fuck, I'm gunna need a crib, food, diapers, toys…" he starts listing off things he needs to himself and doesn't realize that the people around him can hear him.

"Finally making a list of things you need to take care of yourself Franklin?" Karp says and he passes Jared in the halls. Jared doesn't say anything back, just flips Karp the bird and keeps walking. As Jared gets to his car it hits him. _Car Seat. Damn._

Jared arrives at the hospital an hour later and walks to the Pediatric Wing and asks for Rachel Thomas, the nurse he had spoken with earlier. "Mr. Franklin?" Jared turns around to see, who he assumes is Rachel, looking at him.

"Hi, yes," Jared shakes her hand, "So, where's Julie?" He wants to get out of here as soon as he can.

"Right this way." She leads them down the hall toward Julie's room. "Mr. Franklin-"

"Call me Jared."

"Jared," She smiled, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you don't have a car seat to take Julie home in, or anything."

"What gave it away?" Jared said with a laugh.

"Not to worry, Julie came with her own car seat and fully stocked diaper bag." Rachel stopped in front of the room and turned to Jared, "You ready?"

"No." Jared gave a small smile, "But that's never stopped me before." Be took a deep breath and opened the door.

There was a crib in the room and a bunch of monitors that took Jared by surprise, he turned to Rachel with a concerned look in his face, "I thought you said there was nothing wrong with her, just bumps and bruises, why is does she need these machines?"

"They're not on," She whispered to him. Jared looked at the machines again and gave an apologetic smile. "She's fine, I promise. Look." Rachel's voice was calm and relaxing, like she had spent years calming down worried parents. Jared turned to the crib and looked inside. There was Julie, safe and sound asleep. She had a pink pacifier in her mouth and to Jared's surprise, his nose.

"She has my nose." Jared turned to Rachel and asked, "Can I-can I pick her up?"

"Of course you can, she's your daughter."

Jared gave out a tiny laugh, "Right, yeah." He reached in the crib and picked up the sleeping baby. Julie started to stir and Jared shushed her quietly back to sleep. He couldn't take his eyes of this baby. Rachel sensed that they needed time to bond and quietly left the room. "Hey Julie." Jared said in a hushed voice, "I'm Jared, you're dad. Wow, I'm-I'm your dad, never thought I would say those words." Julie snuggled closer to the warm body that was holding her. "To tell you the truth, I had no idea that you were my daughter. I met you once, you probably don't remember, but I do. You and your mom were at a coffee shop near my office. Your mom and I dated for a while, before you were born. Wasn't a long relationship, but it was a good one." He stood there for what felt like an hour just talking to Julie about anything and everything.

There was a knock at the door and Rachel entered the room carrying some papers in one hand and a car seat with a diaper bag in the other. "Mr. Franklin, you need to fill out the paper work to take Julie home."

"Right, of course." Jared took Julie over to the car seat and strapped her in. Julie had yet to wake up. "Wow, she really is my kid, sleeps through anything." It was true, Jared was such a heavy sleeper he would probably sleep through the end of the world.

"Like father like daughter." Rachel said with a smile as she handed over the paper work. Jared sat down in the chair next to Julie and started filling it out, like a pro.

Ten minutes later the paperwork was complete and Jared and Julie were on their way to Jared's car. "Ok Julie, here's the thing, I know nothing about what it takes to be a dad. I'm going to try my hardest to not screw this up." He looked down at the baby he was holding and noticed that she was awake and looking right at him. "Oh, you're awake." They stared at each other for a while and then Jared unlocked the car and began securing the car seat to the back seat. While he was doing this Julie kept looking at him. When everything was secure he put his face in front of Julie and was about to say something when a tiny hand touched his nose. In that moment he knew that this little girl was wrapped around his finger.

The drive back to The Cave was uneventful. Five minutes in, Julie had fallen asleep. Jared had to figure out how he was going to tell Peter that there was going to be an addition to the group. A tiny, adorable addition. It wasn't that Peter was opposed to kids, Peter loved kids, and kids seemed to love Peter. It was explaining that this baby was going to be living with them, for the next seventeen years. _I am really going to be living with Peter seventeen years from now?_ Jared thought to himself. He hadn't really thought about it, he had lived with Peter all through law school and was still living with him. They had been living together for about ten year now. What's another seventeen?

As Jared got closer and closer to L.A he began to realize that he had nothing for Julie to sleep in. He needed a crib, and fast. He needed someone's help. Someone he know he can trust to not tell anyone. Jared took out is phone and called the first person that came to his head. "I need your help."

"Jared?" The voice asked.

"I need you to get me a crib and I need you to not tell anyone about this."

"Ok," the person on the phone said, sounding skeptical, "but you wanna tell me what's going on before I do this?"

"I'll explain later. I just need a crib, a safe one, a nice one, not too small, not too big." Jared told them.

"Why don't you just get it yourself? Picky."

"Have you met me? I don't know the first thing about cribs. Please?" Jared was desperate.

"Okay, okay. Yeah, a nice, safe, medium sized crib. Boy or girl?"

"Girl. AND you can't tell Peter." Jared said, using is serious voice, even though with this person is was really a waste.

"Yeah, sworn to secrecy, I know the rules."

"Thanks Carmen, I owe you one."

"Damn right you do."

Jared hung up the phone and turned on the exit that led to Infeld/Daniels. He needed to tell Peter eventually, might as well get it over with now. It was 3:00 when Jared pulled into the parking lot. He got out of the car and was going around to get Julie out when Hanna walked over. "Hey, Jared, sorry to hear about your friend."

"What?" Jared was confused at first, and then he remembered what he told Peter. "Oh, Claire. Thanks." He opened the backseat and took Julie out of her car seat.

"Who's that?" Hanna asked, seeing Jared take a baby out of his car.

"This is Julie. Claire's daughter." Jared told her, hoping she wouldn't ask anything else. "I have to go do some stuff." Jared locked the car and picked up Julie's carrier and walked away leaving Hanna with a confused look on her face. "Okay Jewls, this is where I work. I'm a lawyer. I help people stay out of jail." Jared told Julie, looking down and seeing her blank expression. "Let's just hope no one else asks me any questions before we get to Peter."

Jared had no such luck. As soon as he got to the elevator, Damien Karp came up to him. "Who's the kid?"

"What do you want Karp?" Jared asked, not really in the mood to deal with him.

"Heard about your friend." Karp said.

"Jeeze, did Peter tell everyone?" Jared was getting pretty annoyed with his best friend at the moment.

"Only those who asked where you were. I only cared because some lady came looking for you. Whatever."

"Mrs. Evens? Crap, I forgot to call her and tell her I wasn't at the office." Jared forgot about the Evens case. He had called her this morning and told her that he had everything ready for court tomorrow and that she should stop by today. Everything went out the window when he got the call about Julie.

Damien could see that something was bothering Jared, as much as it pained him to be nice he said, "Dude, don't worry about it. Peter and I took care of it." The elevator dinged and the two lawyers got on.

"Oh," Jared said, surprised at Damien's kindness. "Thanks man."

They rode in the elevator in silence for a while until Damien asked again, "Seriously, who's baby is that?"

"She's Claire's daughter." Jared said with a smile looking down and Julie. "Her name is Julie."

Damien looked at Julie and then back at Jared, "You two have the same nose."

"It's a common looking nose." Jared said coolly. "Your nose," he said turning to Damien, "is not common. Seriously man, it's huge." The elevator came to a stop and Jared walked out without looking back.

Jared walked in to the office that he and Peter shared and saw his best friend and law partner doing some paperwork. "I need to talk to you." Peter looked up.

"Hello to you too." Peter looked down and the car seat Jared was holding and back up to his friend. "You didn't just go down to identify Claire, did you?" That's the thing Jared loved about Peter, he always knew when Jared was in trouble.

"That's what I need to talk to you about." Jared said, setting Julie down in the chair in front of Peter's desk and taking the seat next to it. "This is Julie," Jared started, turning his head toward the baby, "she's Claire's daughter. She has no other living family."

"You mean she's an orphan?" Peter asked, not really getting at what Jared was saying.

"No," Jared answered, still not looking at Peter, "Her dad's still alive."

"Who's the dad?" Peter asked. Jared finally turned and looked at Peter with a worried expression. It finally clicked. "No way, she's your kid?" Peter looked between the two of them. "I can see it. She has your nose."

"So I've been told." Jared said with a slight smile. "I'm officially introducing you to Julie Franklin. For some reason Claire gave Julie my last name when she was born. I don't really know why. So," Jared paused, "Peter, meet my daughter, Julie."

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**A/N: Chapter One is done. This fandom seems pretty chill from what I can tell, so I don't think I'll be receiving too much negative stuff. (I don't take criticism well.)**  
**But let me know what y'all think! Have a great week! :)**

**p.s I don't know when I'll be updating next, school has started and I have a bunch of classes that demand my life.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Working on Chapter Three right now, having some trouble, but I'll post it as soon as I'm done. :)  
Thanks for the feedback!**

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Jared had left the office early to meet Carmen at The Cave to help out with the crib. When he walked in with Julie in tow he found that their house had been transformed into baby central. "Carmen!" Jared yelled when he walked in, "Carmen! What happened to this place?"

"I picked up a few things while I was getting the crib." Carmen said, coming out of the hallway by Jared's room. "You need much more than a crib."

"I know." Jared let out a sigh. "The crib was the first thing I could think of that I needed right away." He looked around and saw that in the living room a play pin had been set up, there was a high chair in the kitchen, and the place had been pretty much baby-proofed. "I don't know how to thank you." He turned to Carmen, who was standing next to him.

"You can start by telling me why a baby is going to be living with us." That was the greatest thing about Carmen, like Peter, she knew when stuff what about to happen. Jared smiled and gestured to the sofa. He picked up Julie and put her in the play pin so he could talk to Carmen. He spends the next thirty minutes telling Carmen what happened and how he now has a daughter to take care of. After Jared finishes, Carmen sits back and says, "This is the real deal, huh? You're actually going to raise this little girl."

"I have to. She's got no one else. I'm her dad. What kind of person would I be if I just gave her up?" Jared kept looking over at the play pin as Julie would play with the toys that Carmen had put in there.

Carmen sees the way that Jared is looking Julie and smiles. She pats his leg as she gets up, "For what it's worth," she says, "you're gunna make a great dad."

"Thanks." Jared smiles at her and sits back on the couch and closes his eyes. He needed a break. The day isn't even over yet and it feels like this morning was decades away. The silence is broken when Julie starts crying. Jared is up and over to her in the blink of an eye. "Hey," Jared says, picking her up and rocking her gently, "shhh, you're ok." That didn't stop her. Julie just kept on crying. Jared wracked his brains for what could be wrong. His nose gave him the answer. "Oh boy," he mumbled, "well, this should be fun." He picked up the diaper bag and headed for the bathroom.

"CHANGING TABLE IS IN YOUR ROOM!" Carmen yelled as he passed her room.

Jared passed the bathroom and entered his room. Sure enough, there was a changing table, diaper genie _thank you Carmen!, _and a crib all set up. He set Julie down on the table. Jared wasn't a complete idiot when it came to babies, he had changed a few diapers in his day. It didn't take him long to get her all cleaned up and back into her clothes. "Now, doesn't that feel better?" Julie gave a smile and giggled.

"Jared, why is there baby stuff in the house?" Jared turned to see Pindar in the doorway.

"Because I have a baby. Come on Pindar, keep up." Jared said, picking up Julie and carrying her to the living room.

"Did you and Peter finally decide to adopt?" Pindar joked.

"No," Jared gave him a look, "This is my daughter, my biological daughter, Julie." He looked at Julie, "Julie, this is Pindar. He likes to be really clean. Don't take offense if he doesn't want to hold you." He turned to Pindar and smiled.

"So she's staying?" Pindar asked, still not grasping the fact that Jared has a baby now.

Jared's face dropped, "Of course she's staying! She's my daughter!" Julie started to fuss in his arms. "It's ok," Jared looked up and Pindar and said, "See what you did." Julie started to whine again and Jared started to wonder how long it had been since she had eaten. "Let's see if Carmen bought you some food." They went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Nope, no food. "We need to go shopping." Just then the front door opened and Peter came into the kitchen caring grocery bags.

"Hey Dad." Peter joked, setting down the bags. "I picked up some stuff from the store, you know, mushed peas or whatever."

"Does she like peas?" Jared asked.

"How should I know, she's your kid." Peter laughed. He thought that would make Jared laugh too, but it only made him frown. "Hey," Peter said, walking over to his friend, "I'm sure she loves peas, everyone loves peas."

"I hate peas." Jared said. Peter shrugged. Jared looked at Julie and asked, "Do you like peas?" She didn't answer. Jared sighed, "She's my daughter, but I know nothing about her. I don't even know her middle name. I don't know what she's allergic to; I don't know if she has a favorite toy, I know nothing about my daughter." Peter could tell that Jared was about to lose it. He stood right in front of Jared and came eye to eye with him.

"Hey," Peter said quietly, "look at me." Jared reluctantly turned his head and looked Peter in the eye. "Do you think Claire knew anything about Julie when she was born? Do you think my mom knew what to do with me? Babies don't come with instructions. It's ok to not know." Jared looked down and nodded. "They gave you her medical records right?" Jared nodded again. "In there I'm sure you'll find everything you need to know about her allergies and conditions. You got this." He stood up and patted Jared on the shoulder.

"Thanks man." Jared said, getting up to go get the diaper bag that contained everything he knew about Julie. When he reentered the kitchen, he put Julie in her high-chair and started reading her medical records. "How about that," he said with a smile, "you are allergic to peas." He looked over at Peter and said, "You were about to kill my daughter!"

"What?" Peter asked in confusion.

"Julie is allergic to peas." Jared said with a smile, "You didn't buy peas did you?"

"No, who likes peas?" Peter smiled back. "Is she allergic to carrots?"

"Nope, just peas." Jared said, taking the container of carrots that Peter handed him. "Spoon?" Peter went over to the silverware drawer and found a baby spoon and handed it to Jared. "Ok Julie," Jared said to his daughter, "You ready to eat?" Julie seemed to recognize the container and started smiling and clapping. Peter laughed and Jared smiled, "I'll take that as a yes."

Feeding Julie was an easy task. She was very eager to eat, just like her dad. Peter had commented that she had her daddy's appetite and well as his nose. This earned him puree meat being flung at his face by a certain dad. When Julie was all fed and the mess was cleaned up it was 6:00 pm. "You didn't pick up bath stuff did you?" Jared asked Peter as he took Julie out of the high-chair.

"Nope. Just food, diapers, and beer." Peter said. "The beer is for me."

"Really? I thought it was for my 6 month old daughter." Jared said sarcastically. He took Julie to the car seat and strapped her in.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked.

"To the store, I need to give Julie a bath." Jared said, looking for his keys. "She smells of car accident and hospital. I don't need her remembering this day." Peter understood and let Jared do his thing; he looked over and saw that Julie was asleep in the car seat.

" You go," he told Jared, "Julie's passed out." Jared gave him a look. "You wouldn't want a cranky baby at Walmart would you?"

Jared thought about it, "True. Thanks." He walked over to Julie and kissed her head and whispered, "Daddy will be right back, okay."

While Jared was at the store Peter was in charge of Julie. So when Julie woke up and started screaming her head off, it was Peter to the rescue. He picked her up and tried to calm her down by bouncing her a little and telling her everything was ok, but that didn't work. He changed her diaper, but it had no effect. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with Julie. He looked in the diaper bag to see if there was a toy in there that maybe she liked, he found an old ratty dog. He gave it to her and it seemed to calm her down some, but not by much. He knew that Jared would be home any minute and he didn't want it to look like he couldn't babysit his daughter for 30 minutes, so he did the first thing that came to his mind. He started singing.

_All alone at the end of the of the evening  
And the bright lights have faded to blue  
I was thinking 'bout a woman who might have  
Loved me and I never knew_

That's how Jared found them a few minutes later when he came home. They seemed to be in their own little world and he didn't want to ruin it. He did however, take out his phone and take a picture of it. He wasn't sure if he was going to use it as blackmail later or if he just really enjoyed seeing Peter singing to his daughter.

_And when you're looking for your freedom  
And you can't find the door  
When there's nothing to believe in  
Still you're coming back, you're running back  
You're coming back for more_

Jared walked up to the pair and whispered, "Dude, is that The Eagles?" Jared jerked back a bit when Peter jumped.

"Yeah man," Peter whispered back, "It was either this or Highway to Hell." Jared smiled and looked at Julie asleep in Peter's arms.

"Was she okay? Not too much trouble?" Jared asked.

"She's cranky when she wakes up, just like you." Peter said and nudged Jared with his elbow. Jared glared at him. "Changed her and found her favorite dog. She likes my singing."

Jared took Julie from Peter and said, "At least someone does." That earned him a playful slap on the arm. "I think the bath can wait till morning. She's out, she had a big day." Jared went to go put Julie to bed. Simple task since she was already sleepy. He got her out of her dress and put her in the pajamas that he guessed Carmen picked up.

Jared walked back to the living room and collapsed on the couch next to Peter who was reading up on the case they had tomorrow. Jared groaned when he remembered that they have court tomorrow. Peter laughed and put the case file down. "You don't have to go in tomorrow." Jared shifted to look at Peter. "Inefld/Daniels can give you paternity leave. You are a parent now. A new parent." Jared sighed and put his head on Peter's shoulder. It was true, he was a parent now. He has a life to be responsible for.

"I don't know if I can do this Peter." Jared whispered.

Peter looked down at his friend. "What are you talking about? Of course you can do this. Jared," Jared didn't move, "Jared look at me." Peter moved the shoulder his friend was leaning to get his attention. Jared moved his head so he could look at Peter. "You can do this. You have people around you that support you. Imagine when my mom finds out, she's gunna be down here all the time. Oh god. We can't let my mom know you have a kid." Jared breathed out a small smile. Peter saw this and smiled back. "I'm serious. Look around you," Peter motioned with his hand, "You have a play pin, a high-chair, a crib, a changing table, and a fucking diaper genie. All because you called Carmen for a simple crib."

Peter was right; he had the support system to do this. But that's not what was bothering him. He turned his head away from Peter and mumbled something that Peter couldn't catch. Peter nudged him to say it again. "I don't want to turn out like my dad." Jared moved to get up but Peter grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

Peter grabbed Jared's neck and made the smaller man look at him. "You are nothing like your dad." Peter's face was dead serious. "Do you understand? Nothing." Jared rolled his eyes; he had heard this speech before. "Hey jackass, don't roll your eyes at me. When are you going to realize that you're a better person than your dad is ever going to be? You've known Julie for what, not even a full day yet, and you love her like you've known her all her life. I see the way you look at her; she has you wrapped around her finger." Jared smiled a bit at this. Peter leaned in and put his forehead on Jared's, "You are going to be a great dad, don't ever think anything else."

They stayed like that for awhile, mainly because Jared was too tired to move. It was a nice feeling, Peter was warm and welcoming and Jared just wanted to sleep. He can't remember how he got there, but he woke to the sound of Julie crying and he was lying on top of Peter who was sound asleep. Julie cried out again and Jared was up in a flash. He entered his room and picked Julie up. As soon as Julie was in his arms she calmed down. "Hey, hey, it's ok." Julie cuddled into Jared and fell back sleep. He rocked her for a few more minutes before putting her back in her crib. She fussed a bit but fell asleep within seconds. Jared checked the clock 2:00am. "Welcome to parenthood." He said to himself and he climbed into his own bed and fell asleep.

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**That song was _Take It To The Limit_ by The Eagles, if anyone was wondering. I like the Eagles.  
Let me know what y'all think. I liked writing this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I was going to upload this earlier this weekend, but was out of town and had no time. So...here ya go!**

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The next six months went by in the blink of an eye. Julie's first birthday was coming up and Jared was a nervous wreck. He had ended up calling Mrs. Bash a few months ago, despite Peter's warning about what would happen.

"_You called my mom!" Peter said, walking into the office._

"_Julie had a fever, I freaked." Jared defended._

"_You couldn't call the doctor! You had to call my mother? You know what this means don't you?" Peter asked walking up to him and shaking is shoulders, "She's gunna come down here and never leave. She's gunna take one look at your adorable daughter and set up camp for the next seventeen years."_

"_I'm gunna be living with you in seventeen years?" Jared joked pushing Peter away._

"_THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE TAKING FROM THIS!" Peter yelled._

Much to Peter's surprise, his mom only ended up staying for a couple days. Only if she was promised an invite to "this little angel's first birthday". Jared promised and basically shoved her out the door.

It was now a week before Julie's birthday and him and his daughter were in the living room playing with her toys. Julie went to put her hand on the coffee table and pulled herself up. Jared's eyes went big. "PETER! PETER IT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN!" Jared yelled towards the study, his eyes never leaving his daughter. He pulled out his phone and started recording.

Peter walked into the room wondering what Jared was freaking out about. "Dude what are you-" His sentence stoped short when he saw Julie walking along the edge of the table. "Oh my god, she's walking!"

"I KNOW!" Jared had a smile that reached both his ears. "She's been trying to stand up by herself for weeks now. I should've known this was coming." Jared was a few steps away from end of the table where Julie was. She reached the end and looked up at him for help. "Come on Jewls, you can do it." Julie took one step and stopped, her hand still grasping the table and the other out towards her dad. Jared gave in and gave her his hand. Julie smiled and grasped his fingers and let go of the table. She walked to Jared and fell into his legs with a giggle. "That's my girl." Jared said picking up his daughter and gently tossing her in the air.

"Look at you being a proud father." Peter said, walking up to his friend. Jared had changed so much in the last six months. He was happier and it looked good on him. Julie giggled and looked over at Peter and reached for him. Jared passed her over. "Hey baby girl." Peter kissed Julie on the cheek.

"She's starting to like you." Jared said, watching the two of them.

"Takes after her dad." Peter told him, wiggling his eyebrows. Jared rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. "You're daddy likes me," he told Julie, "He's in denial." Julie hit Peter on the cheek. Peter turned to kiss it and it made her laugh. "Let's go see what your dad's doing huh?" They walked in the kitchen when someone knocked on the door. "It's open!" Peter yelled.

"You should really check to see who's there." Karp said as he walked into the house.

"Uncle Karp!" Jared gave a mock surprise. "To what do we owe this visit? Are you hear to feed Julie? Can you not get enough of your niece?"

Karp looked at Julie who had a blank stare on her face. "I'll pass." He turned back to Jared. "These are the reports on the Ewing case you asked for."

"Oh right, thanks." Jared said walking over to take them and put the files on his desk. He walked back in to see a sight he thought he would never see. Karp was holding Julie. "Wow," Jared claimed, walking to stand next to Peter, "look at that. I need a picture of this." Jared searched his pockets for his phone.

"Way ahead of you buddy." Peter said, showing Jared the picture he snapped seconds after Karp had taken Julie.

Karp looked up at the men in front of him, "Didn't you say she needed to eat?"

"Yeah, you wanna feed her lunch? It's mac and cheese day!" Jared said in a sing song voice. Julie started giggling with excitement. "Yeah," Jared said to his daughter, "you love mac and cheese." Jared took Julie from Karp and put her in the high chair. He put the bowl and spoon in front of her and she dove right in.

"I'm gunna go." Karp said after watching Julie eat for a minute.

"Okay." Jared turned to his daughter. "Julie," Julie looked up, "Wave bye." Jared waved at Karp to show Julie to wave bye. Julie smiled and waved. "Bye bye Uncle Karp." Karp closed the door behind him. Jared turned to Peter and said, "I'm gunna read over those reports. Try not to corrupt my daughter in the mean time." Jared smiled and walked away.

"Oh like I could ever corrupt and angel like her!" Peter yelled in response.

"Take It To The Limit!"

"That's a good song!"

"Shh! I'm working!" Peter smiled and shook his head.

"Your daddy's crazy." Julie smiled and threw some macaroni on the floor. Peter sighed, "Julie, we talked about this. The food goes in your mouth, not the floor." Peter pulled up a chair next to Julie who picked up her spoon and held it out for Peter to eat. Peter smiled and took a bite. "Thank you."

Julie's first birthday came and went. She got new toys from Carmen, soap from Pindar, story books from Peter's mom, a teddy bear from Hanna that Karp has signed his name to at the last minute, and some funky looking blanket from Infeld that he said had some meaning in some distant part of the world, to be honest, Jared wasn't paying attention.

When the guest of honor had been put to bed Jared collapsed next to Peter on the couch who watching the News. "Hey dad." Peter joked, earning an elbow to the stomach. "Watch it. You have a one year old now. You don't want to introduce her to violence at such a young age."

Jared rolled his eyes. "The one year old is fast asleep. Finally." The image of Julie trying to eat as much icing as possible flashed into Jared's head. "We are never feeding her that much sugar ever again." Jared leaned his head back and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Turn around." Peter told him. Jared peered out from behind his hands and gave him a weird look. Peter rolled his eyes. "Just do it." Jared did as was told and turned his back toward Peter. Peter put his hands on Jared's shoulders and started massaging. This earned a groan from the tired man and made Peter smile. This went on for a while until Jared broke the silence.

"You're hands are like magic." Peter stopped and Jared turned his head and whispered, "That means keep going." Peter laughed and slapped the back of his head.

"Can I ask you a question?" Peter asked, still slowly rubbing Jared's shoulders.

"If it means you keep doing this, anything you want." Jared said in a sleep voice.

"I want to be put down as Julie's other medical contact." Peter dropped his hands and he felt Jared turn around. "What if something happens to her when she gets put into daycare and they can't reach you? Most of the time you're right next to me anyway, I could just, ya know, hand over the phone or something." Jared was still staring at his with a blank look on his face. They sat for what felt like eternity. "Please say something."

Jared wasn't sure what to say. He had never been in this position before. "You want to be assigned as a next of kin?"

"Yes?"

"Where did this come from?" Jared was thrown by the question. He knew Peter cared for Julie, he just didn't know how much.

"I got to thinking today; these past 6 months went by in a flash. Soon Julie is gunna be walking and talking and running, and climbing, and help us all if she has your 'I can do anything' attitude-" Jared put his hand over Peter's mouth to stop him from rambling.

"Yes." Jared said, still keeping his hand on Peter's mouth. "Yes. Of course you can." Jared could feel Peter smiling against his hand and took it down slowly and saw that Peter's smile went from ear to ear.

Over the next few months things had started to change between Peter and Jared. Lingering looks over mushed baby food, more brushing of hands when handing Julie off to each other, and sometimes just straight up slaps on the ass. Everything really changed the night Janie had come over to babysit.

Jared was in living room playing with Julie when he heard the doorbell ring. "Can someone get that?" He yelled hoping that Peter or Carmen would get it.

Peter got up from his desk, knowing who was behind the door. He opened it and saw Janie standing, waiting to be let in. "Hey Janie, thanks for doing this."

"No problem." Janie said, slipping past Peter. "You guys need a night out." She turned to Peter and winked. He rolled his eyes and led her to the living room.

"Who was at the door?" Jared asked, still looking down at the blocks that Julie was playing with.

"Get dressed." Peter told him.

Jared looked up, "Why-" he saw Janie standing there and got confused. "What's Red doing here?"

"Get dressed." Peter said again. "Janie's gunna babysit for us while we go eat or something." He saw that Jared still wasn't sure about it. "Dude, come on. Two hours tops. She'll be fine."

Julie looked up and recognized Janie. She started giggling and clapping her hands. "Hey cutie." Janie said, taking Jared's place as he got up. "Daddy and Peter are gunna go out for a while and you get to hang out with me." Jared was about to say something when Peter shoved him to his room.

"Change your shirt." Peter said, trying to force Jared to the hall.

"What's wrong with my shirt?" Jared asked, walking to his room. A few minutes later Jared walked out with a nice button down shirt with his sleeves rolled up. "Better?"

Peter smiled, "Much. Let's go."

Jared ignored Peter and walked up to Janie and handed her a sheet of paper, "This has everything you need to know. Doctor's number and Carmen's number. Do not feed her peas. I swear if you give her peas I will hurt you, she's allergic. She's been fed. Changing table is in my room. Bed time is in," he checked his watch, "about an hour. She should go down pretty easy," Peter grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the door, "but if not, try and sing to her!"

"Bye Janie." Peter said as he pushed Jared out the door.

"SHE LIKES THE EAGLES!" Janie heard Jared yell as the door closed. She laughed to herself and looked down at Julie.

"Just you and me, kid."

Dinner was nice, nothing fancy. They went to the diner like they always did, and talked about stuff they always talked about. Somehow they got on the subject of Julie, not a big surprise since Jared was a proud dad. "She's gunna start walking on her own, any day now, I can feel it." Jared said, sipping his Coke.

"Then she'll be talking." Peter said.

"Oh god. Talking, my little girl is gunna start talking." Jared's head fell to the counter. Peter started rubbing Jared's back to calm him down. They stayed like that for a beat and then Jared turned his head. "Peter?"

"Yeah buddy?" Peter replied, not taking his hand off his friend's back. Jared didn't respond, he just took Peter's hand from his back and held it in his own. Peter looked at their intertwined fingers, "Jar-"

"Shh. Let me enjoy this." Jared said in a quiet voice.

"Enjoy what? Holding my hand?" Peter was confused, but things started to clear up when he felt Jared's thumb on his palm. "Oh." Jared gave a small smile and lifted his head from the table and moved it to Peter's shoulder. Peter leaned his head against Jared's and they just sat there for a while.

They got home later that evening and Peter stopped Jared before he walked inside. "Hold on a second." Jared stopped and turned to face him only to find his face in Peter's neck. Peter turned his head a placed a tiny kiss to Jared's temple. He pulled away and said, "Tonight was fun." Jared smiled as Peter turned to enter the house.

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**A/N: Hope you liked it! :)**


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